Momentum is fickle. It seemed like the San Francisco 49ers were going to pull off another close win against the Seattle Seahawks. Until Kyle Shanahan became too passive. The 49ers defense did its job on the previous offensive series by the Seahawks. Coming up with a big stop on fourth and inches, which seemingly would allow Shanahan to let the offense milk time off the clock.
Running back Christian McCaffrey got the drive going with an 11-yard run. Seattle was then penalized for a hold on a run play, which gave San Francisco another first down. Shanahan went back to a toss play which McCaffrey got stopped for a one yard loss. The next play call from Shanahan is what doomed the 49ers.
Instead of looking to get the ball in the hands of his best receiver, Jauan Jennings. Brock Purdy threw high to Deebo Samuel who was unable to make a leaping catch for a first down. Even Greg Olsen was suprised that the football went to Samuel, instead of Jennings. Also, noteworthy is that there is a significant height differential between the two 49er receivers.
On the third down play, Jennings got the football broke a tackle and was shoved backwards and stayed in-bounds to keep the clock running, which forced the Seahawks to use a timeout.
With a four point lead for the 49ers, the Seahawks had plenty of time to drive down the field for a touchdown. There was little to no resistance from the 49ers front four especially since Nick Bosa left the game aggravating his hip injury. Also, noteworthy twice Shanahan lost a timeout challenging whether a pass was complete or not. He was unsuccessful on both.
Not having at least one of those timeouts was huge. San Francisco at least may have gotten an opportunity to get in field goal range to possibly tie the game up. Instead, Geno Smith won the game with his legs with 12 seconds left.
If Shanahan was not so passive and trusted Purdy and his offense. He needed to go for it on fourth and six. It is not like San Francisco can trust its special teams. Pat O’Donnell proved that by not being able to pin Seattle deep. So, let’s face it, Shanahan did not put his team in position to win, only to lose.